twenty-four seven. But had I been there when they came for her again, I would have fought any rogue hunter to protect her."
"Believe me when I say I wouldn't fight a vampire for you to save you," Iconia said.
Well, that was a given.
But if Selena were one of them now, why didn't some saber tooth fangs appear? Iconia was in her space, baring her teeth, giving her grief, and when Selena ran her tongue over her teeth again, there were still no vampire-size teeth anywhere.
"She's here to fight hunters on your behalf, believe it or not," Atreides said, sounding highly annoyed with Iconia. His teeth were still fully extended.
"Why are you growling at me?" Iconia asked, undoubtedly incensed that Atreides would take a huntress's side over hers.
Which couldn't help but amuse Selena. Still, she was worried about this other issue though, that she could truly be a vampire. What if she pushed Iconia, and the vampire made a threatening move toward her? Then would fangs finally erupt? Selena was halfway tempted to force the issue, but she didn't want to have to have Atreides break up the fight when they were supposed to be watching out for the vampiresses.
Selena started thinking more of the consequences of what could have happened to her. Could she fly? Vanish? Transport herself to somewhere else? Would she crave drinking blood? She couldn't do any of those things. Atreides had to be wrong about Selena hearing vampiric conversation in a telepathic way. Iconia had to have been talking aloud to her friends and with her superior hunter hearing, Selena had heard. That was all. And the other? She was tired. The two male voices she'd heard had just been a figment of her imagination.
Yet Atreides seemed to have believed he had talked to her through telepathic conversation. None of it made any sense.
Then she realized Atreides and Iconia were having a stare down. Which meant? They were telepathically communicating. Okay, so then why couldn't Selena hear any of it? That proved Atreides was wrong!
Then she saw trouble ahead. Two hunters were approaching the two vampiresses who had been with Iconia while she was having her meltdown with Atreides. One was Cliff, the brother of the one Selena had killed. She hurried to get into place so that she was close enough to protect the two women, should the hunters threaten them. Atreides had made sure that all the women who were taking part in this manhunt were not rogues and shouldn't be on any hunter's target list.
That was all the vampires needed was to kill a hunter who was legally hunting a rogue. The two hunters were respectfully asking the vampiresses questions, not hassling them or acting threateningly in any manner.
Atreides had quickly joined Selena, while Iconia had appeared next to her friends, which she wasn't supposed to do because she could have spooked the hunters and made them believe she was coming in for the attack. But they just eyed her warily, hands on the hilts of their swords, naturally, but no one fought anyone, thankfully.
Selena heard her name mentioned, which surprised her. "We're looking for Selena Townsend," Cliff said. "We know she has been hanging around vampiresses to protect them."
Oh, great, so they already knew what she was up to, or maybe, because she'd tried to protect Charlene, they had just assumed it.
"What do you want with her?" Iconia asked, as if she was protecting her, but Selena suspected if they had a beef with Selena, Iconia would happily just point behind them where Selena and Atreides were lying in wait in case there was any trouble. Which would blow their whole operation.
"She has gone missing and a human reported that she might have been…abducted by a vampire. Then her sister has gone missing too." Cliff acted as though he cared about her safety, when in truth Selena knew he wanted her head on a platter for killing his brother.
"I've heard she and her sister are together and they’re having a great time. I'll be sure to let them know you want to hear on their status should I ever run into them somewhere, though I highly doubt I will. You might know that hunters and vampires don't generally socialize. I'm sure they'll get in touch with you and let you know they're fine." Iconia sounded arrogant, her arms folded across her chest, looking like she had no intention of "finding" said huntresses or of telling them a hunter wanted to hear about